Shadow of The Day
by Shadowed Nightwings
Summary: Fang was too quiet all day, and Max finally confronts him. "Goodbye, Max," Fang said, jumping out of the cave without a glance back. Set before Max, but after STWOES.


**Hello, people of FanFiction. I've been meaning to get this story up for a while, but I couldn't think of a good end or middle. This is my first Maximum Ride story, and my first one-shot, so I hope it's good! I tried to make the characters in character, but, considering the plot and the fact that I'm not that good at making up snappy comebacks (like Max), they will be a little OOC. **

**Disclaimer: I am not an adult. I am not a man. Therefore, I am obviously not JP, and don't own Maximum. I also don't own Shadow of the Day, that's owned by Linkin Park. If there are any parts of the plot you recognize, they probably belong to Stephanie Meyer. I didn't write this story thinking about New Moon, but I just saw it (It was better than the first) and some of my writing might have been influenced by it. It wasn't intentional, and I apologize if anyone gets mad about that. **

**Now, on with the story!**

Fang's been quiet all day. Not that that's unusual or anything. But he's been more quiet than normal. I tried to talk to him, but he just looked at me with his dark eyes, emotionless… and turned away.

We're stopping at a cave tonight to sleep. I'm going to ask Fang what's wrong, and I'm going to get the truth out of him, even if I have to force him.

"Going down!" I suddenly announced when I spotted a cave near the top of a mountain. The others quickly followed, glad to finally stop. We'd been flying all day, and even though Fang, Iggy, and I could fly up to eight hours without getting tired, the younger ones tired easier, and couldn't fly for very long without resting.

When we reached the cave, Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy immediately collapsed on the stone ground, exhausted.

"Do we have any food? I hope we do, because I'm really hungry, but if we don't, maybe we could go to McDonalds, because we passed like three of them in the last mile, and I wanted to ask you if we could get some food, because I was hungry, and I knew everyone was hungry, they just didn't want to bother you, but then I started thinking about good food, and then I thought about those chocolates we had in France- you know those really good ones but they had something in the middle, I can't remember what, and then Gazzy threw up all night? And the color of throw up is so disgusting, it's this icky greenish brown, but my favorite color is pink, and I wish everything could be pretty colors. If we ever get a house, I want my room to be pink because that would be so awesome and-"

Nudge was cut off by Iggy slapping a hand over her mouth. I silently thanked Iggy for cutting off Nudge's rambling, then said, "Yes, we have food, no we can't go to McDonalds, yes I remember those chocolates, and if we ever get a house, you can paint your room pink." I didn't want to ruin her fantasy by saying we would most likely never get a house. "Nudge and Angel, go get some firewood. Gazzy, go get some water from the river I saw- it's a few hundred feet west of here. Iggy, get some food out. My pack's three steps to the left of you." I didn't give Fang a job purposely; I knew that he'd do what he wanted regardless of what I said. Five minutes later we had a fire going, courtesy of Iggy and Gazzy, and everyone was eating.

"I'll take watch," Fang told me quietly when we were finished eating. I glanced up at his emotionless face and nodded back.

"Night, everyone!" I called. Yawning, Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, and Iggy tapped fists with me. After finding a comfortable (or as comfortable as possible on a stone floor) position on the ground, they were asleep within seconds. As hard as I tried, however, I couldn't fall asleep.

I opened my eyes to find Fang staring out the mouth of the cave, silhouetted by the moon's glow.

Sensing someone staring at him, he turned to face me, his eyes once again undecipherable.

"Fang," I whispered, "We need to talk." He nodded and jerked his head towards a smaller cave, far enough away that we wouldn't wake the others, but close enough that we could still see them.

He took off into the night, obviously expecting me to follow. I jumped off the cliff after casting a last look at the sleeping Flock, and shortly landed on another cliff after following him a short distance away.

There was a moment of silence. He stared out the cave at the moon, and I stared at him. There was almost absolute silence, and it startled me when he suddenly whirled around.

"What do you want?" He asked harshly. Surprised, I blinked at his face; sure my eyes were betraying my confused emotions.

"What's wrong?" I asked him quietly.

"Nothing's wrong." He responded, turning away again.

Normally, I would respect Fang's wishes (which were obviously for me to stop questioning him), but my confused emotions got the best of me, and I snapped.

"What do you mean, nothing's wrong?! You've been silent all day, you practically yelled at me when I wanted to talk to you, and now you tell me nothing's wrong? You won't even look at me now!"

Fang slowly turned to face me, his jaw tight and eyes swirling with emotions I couldn't read before going dark and cold. "Do you really want to know what's wrong with me?"

I glared at him, even though it was clearly a rhetorical question. "No, I dragged you out here in the middle of the night to stargaze!" I flung back sarcastically. "What's your problem?" I asked, shoving him back slightly in anger.

"Well, maybe, instead of being so quick to blame me, you should ask what's wrong with you!" He yelled back, shoving me in return.

I stared at him in surprise; temporarily speechless. "Yeah?" I asked as I put up my own mask over my face. "Well, why don't you tell me?"

He stared at me for a moment that seemed to stretch into an hour before Fang finally spoke in a quiet tone. "We haven't gotten anywhere in the past month, Max. I'm tired of it, Max. Tired of it all. If you weren't so stubborn, we could just settle down; get a house in the middle of nowhere."

I stared at him, incredulous. I had trouble believing that was what he was so upset about. No one could read Fang very well, even Angel, but he had been my best friend for nearly 14 years, and I could normally tell when he was lying. I was fairly sure he was now. There was more on his mind than this.

"Yeah?" I asked him, "And what are you going to do about that?"

Jaw tense, he turned away from me. "Goodbye, Max," he said before leaping out of the cave and into the black sky, where he blended in almost immediately. It took a moment for that statement to sink in. At first, I thought that he meant he was done with this talk; he was going back to the cave. But as his barely visible form grew further and further in the distance, I realized he had no intention of coming back.

I could have easily caught up to him using my super speed, but, somehow, that thought never occurred to me. At any rate, I couldn't have stopped him.

Slowly, my knees gave out beneath me. I collapsed to the cave floor; tears pouring down my cheeks as he became invisible in the night, even with my genetically enhanced vision. He couldn't leave. He promised.

I don't know how long I kneeled at the mouth of the cave, waiting for Fang to come back and give me a half smile that showed he wasn't angry and just needed to let off some steam. But the hours passed, and I eventually reconciled myself with the fact that Fang wasn't coming back.

Slowly, I stood up and dusted off the knees of my jeans. I wiped the tear stains off my face and flew back to the cave the Flock was in.

**I close both locks below the window  
I close both blinds and turn away**

I told myself I had accepted that Fang was gone, but I knew I hadn't. Not completely, anyway. My heart still jumped at every bird that flew into my vision, and then sunk as I realized it was just a bird. As I waited for the sun to rise, I forced myself to shut the door to my heart, and lock my emotions up in it.

**  
Sometimes solutions aren't so simple  
Sometimes goodbye's the only way  
**

Why did he leave? It surely couldn't have been my leadership skills… could it? Was goodbye the only way he could deal with me?

**  
And the sun will set for you  
The sun will set for you**

The dark sky slowly brightened until the sun was visible, peeking up from the ground. The ground and sky were brightening, becoming lighter as the world awoke. I faced East, watching the sun rise as I thought. "_The sun of the world may be rising,"_ I thought to myself as I chucked without feeling any humor at the ironic thought, "_but my sun is setting."_

**  
And the shadow of the day  
Will embrace the world in grey  
And the sun will set for you  
**

The sun rose, but as it did, shadows also overtook the world. There are no shadows at night; everything seemed surreal. The rising of the sun and chirping of birds seemed to be mocking the departure of Fang; mocking my sorrow.

Tearing my mind away from those thoughts, I turned from the now blue sky and gently kicked the Flock awake.

"Rise and shine!" I said with false enthusiasm. "Breakfast time!" The Flock slowly woke up, stretching and yawning. Nudge blinked sleepily, rubbing her eyes and standing up. Iggy opened his sightless eyes and mechanically began making breakfast. Gazzy sat up, woken by the smell of Pop Tarts toasting over the fire. Angel was the last to wake up, stretching her pure white wings out behind her as she crawled over to the fire and accepted a browned Pop Tart from Iggy. They were so normal, so oblivious of the missing member of the Flock, it almost brought a fresh round of tears to my eyes. Almost.

Not wanting to ruin their perfect moment of oblivion, I silently sat down next to Nudge and grabbed a Pop Tart from the box, not waiting to toast it over the fire. Iggy seemed to notice first. Frowning, he cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Where's Fang?" He asked, unable to hear Fang's quiet footsteps or almost silent breathing. That one statement brought the rest of the Flock to their senses as they shook off the last dregs of sleep. After looking around and determining Fang wasn't just invisible, they looked at me for an explanation.

"I don't know," I responded, looking away as I once again fought of a wave of tears and hysteria.

**  
Pink cards and flowers on your window  
Your friends all plead for you to stay**

Fang fought off tears as he flew through the silent sky that was slowly lightening, mentally berating himself for leaving the Flock… and Max.

She hadn't uttered a word as he left, but she hadn't needed to. The shock and confusion in her eyes spoke for her. She had almost been begging him to stay, and it had been so hard for him to tear himself away and leap out of the cave entrance.

**  
Sometimes beginnings aren't so simple  
Sometimes goodbye's the only way  
**

"_It was the only way_," He thought to himself, refusing to consume himself with thoughts of Max. It would only drive him crazy.

**  
And the sun will set for you  
The sun will set for you**

Max… she was so beautiful. The way the sun glinted off her wings, making them look golden as she flew. The way her eyes sparkled when she smiled at her, and, sometimes, the rosy blush in her cheeks when he smiled at her.

**  
And the shadow of the day  
Will embrace the world in grey  
And the sun will set for you  
**

But she would never feel the same way about him. He couldn't stand staying with her another second, pretending he was only her best friend, when, in reality, he felt so much more. He couldn't stand another day of seeing her smile at him and knowing she was smiling at him as a best friend, maybe even as a brother. So he had to leave.

**  
And the shadow of the day  
Will embrace the world in grey  
And the sun will set for you  
**

"He left last night," I explained shortly, fighting with everything I had against the tornado of sorrow and pain whirling through my mind. "I don't know if he's coming back."

**  
And the shadow of the day  
Will embrace the world in grey  
And the sun will set for you**

His control broke as the sun rose and shadows spilled over the ground beneath him, and the tears he had been holding back finally broke through. He wouldn't last long without Max, but he could try. _It was for her happiness_, he convinced himself as he flew, blinded by tears. _She would never be happy knowing I loved her as more than a brother, or best friend. She would never love me the same way. _

**How was it? This is my first real Maximum Ride Fanfiction, and my first songfic. I've done a few one shots with my friend, PsychoMonkeyWithAChainsaw (they're on my profile. Go check them out!), but they were mostly joking, and making fun of different fictional characters. **

**When I started this, I thought it would be a one shot, but, when I finished it, I realized I had a perfect song that could be a sequel to this: Broken Wings by Clay Aiken. **

**So review. The little green (or is it purple?) button won't bite! Tell me what you thought, if you think Fang should come back, or if you think this story is an utter failure and I shouldn't post a sequel!**


End file.
